Best Electronic Cigarettes and Best E Cig Starter Kits In 2020

Picking the right e-cigarette product to suit you can be a tricky task. No matter how passionate you are about e-cigs, you need time to adjust to the community, learn about the different types of e-cigarette and then make educated decisions based on your preferences.

Yes, I'll cover the most important factors to consider when picking the best e-cig.

What's The Best Electronic Cigarette Kit?

The Cig-a-Likes E Cig Starter Kit

Cig-a-likes, sometimes known as minis are e-cigarettes that resemble the look of a traditional cigarette and this is the best e-cig for the complete beginner.

They come in both disposable and rechargeable kits, with everything you need to start, choice of flavors and options are relatively limited with this type.

All Cig-a-like vapes have an internal re-chargable battery, often coming with a spare, but you can purchase additions if required.

The Best Cig-a-like Starter Kit

1st: Mig Vapor Clear Fusion

Mig Vapor is one of the oldest vape brands on the market, but one thing they do well, and better than their competitors, is the flavor of their e-cigs. Cig-a-likes all perform to a similar level, but the Clear Fusion seems to have the edge. One huge advantage is, you can use any e-liquid you like, from any store selling e-liquid.

3rd: V4L Zeus ECig Kit

The Vape Pod E Cig

Vape Pods are e-cigarettes that have become all the rage in the last few years. Thanks to their simplicity and great performance, taking over the Cig-a-like type market. Pod vapes do come in a whole host of designs, but they all have a self-contained pod, which holds both e-liquid and a coil.

Once it's empty, you just replace the pod. Most are now refillable, but some are not, so be careful as it can cost more to replace an entire pod than just a coil. You can, of course, buy replacement pods. The refillable pod versions, however, generally do not come with any e-liquid, so you would have to buy that separately. Suited best for both the complete beginner and more experienced vapers!

The Best Vape Pod

1st: Smok Fetch Pro

The SMOK Fetch Pro has everything a serious vaper would want, up to 80W of power from a removable 18650 battery, airflow control, easy to use and utilizes the 0.17-ohm conical mesh coils which deliver the best tasting vape with a smooth cloud of vapor. If you are looking for a direct lung inhale pod mod, this is it!

3rd: Vinci X

The Vape Pen E Cig

Vape pens are the most common ecig used by the beginner and intermediate vapers. They have a small tank to add your own e-liquid, along with a rechargeable battery. All vape pens are sold as starter kits and consist of the main vape pen, recharge cable, and a spare coil or atomizer. Again, as they are refillable, it is up to you to provide your own e-liquid.

Vape Pens can be used with mouth to lung inhales. With this option, you should look at atomizers over 1-ohm. Below 1-ohm atomizers are meant for direct lung inhales, which produce much higher amounts of vapor.

Vape pens come in a mixture of internal battery devices and some require an external 18650 battery which is purchased separately.

The Best Vape Pen

1st: FreeMax Twister Starter Kit

The newly released FreeMax Twister 80W vape pen comes with an impressive built-in 2300mAh battery and a great variable wattage feature. So you can adjust the power to suit your taste. In addition this vape pen utilizes mesh coils to maximize flavor and cloud production.

3rd: VaporFi VAIO GO

The Box Mod E Cig

Box mods are being used by vape device users moving on from vape pens and want a little more vapor and power. Often used with sub ohm coils to create thick clouds of vaper.

Box mods are often sold as starter kits which includes a tank and a couple of atomizer coils (you can also buy replacement coils). These tanks are refillable, so you do need your own e-liquid. You can pay a lot for mods with certain high-quality chipsets, but here, we list our list of the top regulated mods for the money.

Most box mods require you to purchase a pair of 18650 batteries, but some may include an internal battery.

The Best Box Mod

1st: VooPoo Alpha Kit

VooPoo has recently released 2 new box mod kits and both are just simply awesome when you look at resposiveness and ramp up time. With the Alpha Zip Kit comes the Maat tank, which in our opinion is one of the best tasting mesh coil sub ohm tanks on the market. Producing a great deep tasting and thick cloudy vape, this kit is the one that all manufacturers are trying to beat in the war for the best box mod.

This user has either smoked in the past, or is wishing to cut down or quit. They want to experience an e-cig that feels and tastes like the real thing, satisfying them in both nicotine withdrawal and taste.

A Brief Introduction To The E-Cigarette

Finding the best e-cig to suit you personally can be a little daunting, considering the amount of sheer choice the buyer has these days. Way back in January 2014 according to a study on BMJ Journals there were 466 different brands of electronic cigarette, now in 2019, there’s thought to be thousands to choose from.

It was also reported recently, in the transitions in electronic cigarette use among adults study, that half of all users of electronic cigarettes (who were tested), discontinued their use within the first set time period. This may be due to the quality of the product, or the wrong type of e-cig (or e-liquid) being used.

So how do you go about finding the right, and more importantly, the best e-cig product to suit you, that you will be able to stick with?

Good question, as most advice is just based on general models, suiting either the complete beginner or an experienced vaper.

We here at SmokeTastic decided to write this guide, to help all sorts of users find the best e-cig to suit them, and form categories to suit the different type of user. Simply identify which category of vaper you fall into, and take a look at our suggestions to find the best e-cig device.

It couldn’t be simpler!

The Complete Beginner

If you are completely new to e-cigarettes and want a simple to use device, you have 2 choices:

Cig-a-like E-Cigs – The most basic e-cig which looks like a real cigarette, with low power and a small amount of vapor.

The Cig-a-like is a 2 piece design, featuring a battery and a cartomizer (named so because it’s a combination of an e-liquid cartridge, and an atomizer built into one).

The battery is more often than not automatic, which means instead of pressing a button when you vape, it automatically detects airflow and activates automatically.

You do have to pick carefully, as the cartomizers only come in a limited amount of flavors and strengths.

One other thing to be cautious of, is the low power battery and thus a low amount of vapor this type of e cig produces. Although at first, it may seem to resemble smoking in many ways.

Many people often give-up with the Cig-a-like e-cig pretty quickly and move onto other types like the vape pen.

Vape Pod E-Cigs – Similar in functionality to a Cig-a-like e-cigs, but with a fresh modern design.

Vape pods are relatively new to the market, in comparison to Cig-a-likes, and are by far the most popular option for beginners. Thanks largely to their simplicity and modern look.

Again they are a two-piece design, comprising a battery and a cartridge, known as a pod. This pod is where the e-liquid and atomizer are held, so using the same principles as the Cig-a-like.

Make sure you look at the flavors, and strengths of the pods, as they can be limited. Ideally, you should choose one which is refillable, so you can use the same pod multiple times, which cuts down on cost and allows you to choose any e-liquid you like.

E Cig Recommendation For The Complete Beginner

So what’s the best e cig for the complete beginner?

Clear Fusion

The Clear Fusion kit from Mig Vapor is the perfect beginner electronic cigarette starter kit. A Couple of huge advantages of this e-cig is the battery life, in comparison to other cig-a-like, and the vape pod, but also the ability to use any e-liquid you like. Saving you money, and opening your choice to the whole e-liquid market.

The Ex-Smoker

You are looking for an e-cigarette that has all the same properties of a cigarette, which includes the pull resistance, taste, and nicotine content. With the idea of slowly reducing your nicotine intake over time.

In this case, you need to look for e-cigs that have a coil, (often referred to as an atomizer) of greater than 1-ohm.

This type of coil is specifically designed for a mouth to lung vape and has a similar resistance to smoking a real cigarette.

The vapor production on these types of devices is also similar to the amount of smoke your use too.

All Cig-a-like and Pod Vapes are of this nature, so the same principles apply here.

Important:

The most important thing to consider, is to choose an e-cig that allows you to refill with any e-liquid.

This gives you the option to try multiple different tobacco and regular flavors than the sealed units. It also allows you to choose the strength of nicotine.

If your new to e-cigarettes, then it’s best to start at a reasonably high level. That level depends on how often you plan to use your e-cigarette.

For example, if you enjoy smoking, and just want an alternative then it’s a good choice to pick between 6-12mg strength. If however, you just want a strong hit to get you through the day, then choosing a higher nicotine content will help, but not be as enjoyable.

E Cig Recommendation For The Ex-Smoker

So what’s the best e cig to help quit smoking?

Clear Fusion

The Clear Fusion kit, from Mig Vapor is also a pretty good pick for ex-smokers. Try a combination of tobacco e-liquids to start, but try to pick up some fruity flavors as well, you might just surprise yourself, and enjoy vaping that bit more!

The Return Vaper

You may have tried electronic cigarettes before and it just didn’t sit right for you. This may have been for a number of reasons. We’ll explore a few to give you a better chance of sticking with it and more importantly, enjoying it!

There are many reasons why users don’t stick with the e-cig, here are a few, and the things you should try next:

The harsh feel on the throat – This is a too often heard about complaint you hear from ex-vapers and one that happens from a misunderstanding in advice.

The harsh feel on the throat comes from using too high of a nicotine level in the e-liquid. It’s often thought that if you’re a heavy smoker, you need a stronger nicotine level, but this is completely wrong.

Think about it a little differently, if you enjoyed smoking and want to enjoy an e-cig, then to use a 3mg e-liquid twice as much as a 6mg e-liquid, will give you the same amount of nicotine and satisfy your cravings. The lower the nicotine level the smoother the vape.

Problems with the feel of the draw – There are 2 types of techniques, one where you pull to your mouth, then into your lungs known as ‘mouth to lung’ and the other where you pull directly to the lungs known as ‘direct lung inhales’.

The difference between the 2 is controlled by the resistance of the coil, where mouth to lung users use a resistance above 1-ohm, and the direct lung inhale users use a resistance below 1-ohm, known as sub-ohm vaping.

Chances are, you were using the wrong type of coil to suit your preferred type of technique. Most smokers moving onto e-cigarettes, start with mouth to lung and move onto direct lung inhales over time.

The taste wasn’t right – There are so many e-liquids to try and all have a different blend, even if you just look at the tobacco flavor.

Try using an e-cig that allows you to refill, this way you have access to thousands more of flavors, and can even blend your own.

When you switch over to e-cigs, there is going to be a time where you need to get used to it. Many new vapers consider the experience like changing a brand of cigarette, to help them mentally get over that change.

Top Tip:

A top tip from us is to try the different fruit or menthol flavors, instead of trying to find an exact match of your current brand of cigarette. Often a complete change is better than a subtle one.

E-Cig Recommendation For The Return Vaper

So what’s the best e cig for the return vaper?

FreeMax Twister AIO Vape Pen

The FreeMax Twister AIO Vape Pen, is a great choice for the return vaper, simple to use with adjustable wattage and mesh coils to maximize flavor. Simple to experiment with different e-liquids, and play around with airflow to suit your needs.

E-Cigs For The On and Off Vaper

If your the type of user who finds they keep jumping back and forth to the e-cigarette, then there’s a good chance you haven’t found the exact product that suits your type of vaping.

This could be due to a number of factors which include:

The hit on your throat isn’t as good as smoking. This could be due to the amount of nicotine in your e-liquid. Try switching to a 3mg juice temporarily, to see if that helps. Also, try switching to direct lung inhales, using a coil less than 0.5-ohms, this improves flavor and gives you the hit faster.

The taste of the e-cigarette doesn’t really hit the mark. Make sure you buy a device that is refillable and buy some test e-liquid sets, just smelling the juice in a shop, doesn’t really give you an idea if it’s going to be an ‘all day vape’ or not.

The e-cigarette airflow isn’t right. This really depends on the type of coil and technique you are doing. If your doing ‘mouth to lung’, then buy a device that allows you to experiment with direct lung inhales. Also, get a device that has a good airflow control within it, allowing you to adjust the airflow to suit your needs.

Too much of a pain to set it up. There are many devices on the market, some are incredibly tedious to set up, whilst there are some that are incredibly easy yet still produce a good vape.

E-Cig Recommendation For The On and Off Vaper

So what’s the best e cig for the on and off vaper?

SMOK Species

The SMOK Species kit, is an ideal box mod for those who want to really give e-cigarettes a good try. It has excellent airflow, and a huge choice of different coils to experience different pull strengths, and flavor enhancements. Top tip, try using the mesh coils to get the most out of your e-liquid. The SMOK Species also has great airflow control, and allows you to adjust the power to get an incredible custom vape, yet is relatively easy to use.

E-Cigs For The Experienced Vaper

This type of user may be experienced with vaping, and enjoys it to a certain effect, but want to get more from their vaping experience.

Luckily there are many additional choices, where you can experiment and try different setups, these include:

Wattage and Temperature Control. – This is where you buy a box mod that has both wattage and temperature control. With wattage control, you control the power going to the control, best around 50-100W. With temperature control, you control the temperature of the coil so you never experience a dry hit, you can also set the wattage in temperature control mode with some mods, so the wattage will drop as soon as the temperature of the coil gets too hot.

RDA and RTA setups. – This is where you can build your own coils and screw them into your ‘deck’. With RDA tanks you drip the e-liquid manually on the coils and vape. With RTA’s you fill a tank above the coils like a regular tank. Check out the difference between RDA and RTAs for more information.

Squonk Mods. – If you love the taste coming from an RDA, but don’t like the idea of carrying a bottle around with you to ‘drip’ onto the coils, then a Squonk mod should be considered. It has a squeezable bottle built into the mod which you squeeze to drip e-liquid on your deck.

E-Cig Recommendation For The Experienced Vaper

So what’s the best e cig for the more experienced vaper?

Voopoo Drag 2

The Voopoo Drag 2, is the perfect mod for the more experienced vaper with both wattage and temperature control. The original was one of the best selling mods of all time, and the Drag 2 is an improvement on that. It comes with a mesh coil tank, but you can use RDA and RTA tanks on it if you wish.

Who Are E-Cigarettes For?

The popularity of the e-cigarette has exploded in 2019 making 2020 an interesting year for ecig products, the most popular way to quit! The humble e-cigarette has changed a lot over the past few years, so there is a lot to learn especially if you’re looking for the best ecig starter kit, for example. You need to be aware of the health issues relating to e-cigs, to fully understand what vaping represents before making a purchase. The FDA has also been busy studying e-cigs, to make sure the devices available to consumers are of the highest quality.

You may have read a number of media stories concerning vaping and e-cigs, the fact however remains, there is little known about the long-term effects of using ecigs, it is therefore critical that you learn as much about them as possible before starting. Another good resource to use is the Surgeon General site, where they give you an overview of the ecig, and health impacts.

The purpose of these e-cigarette products is simple, it is to be used as an alternative to smoking, and as such, should only be used by adults who want to replace their smoking with an alternative, and arguably, a healthier option. Many people who turn to these devices are in fact successful in quitting smoking altogether, many have simply cut down but some also have tried and failed. So using e-cigs is not, necessarily, going to be the solution to quit smoking for all. The FDA also has strict guidelines on how ecigs are to be marketed, including restrictions on labeling them as a quit smoking aid.

Recommended Users:

E-Cigs should only be used by either, a smoker who is looking to cut down or quit their cigarette consumption, a smoker who wants to avoid the harsh smell of stale cigarette smoke or the ex-smoker who is tempted back.

We strongly advise only vape as an alternative to smoking, if you do not smoke DO NOT START VAPING! The vast majority of e-liquids within e-cigs contain nicotine and nicotine is addictive.

So, if you are a smoker or ex-smoker, how do you know which type of electronic cigarette to choose from, and which is the most suited starter kit? You don’t want to waste your money on an expensive e-cigarette, only to realize that it’s for a more experienced vaper. The advice that we can give, start simple. Either a cheap Cig-a-like e-cigarette, or a more expensive pod type e-cigarette or vape pen. The box mod type vapes and the Squonk mods are for the more experienced vapers, who want more of a vape hit. Take a look at our quick explanation of each type:

Which Type of ECig Starter Kit Will Suit You?

The Cig-a-like E-Cig

The Cig-a-like is the oldest type of ecig, that many vapers start with. Suited for people who smoke but want an easy to use e-cigarette to help cut down with.

Box Mods

* There are two types of techniques, mouth to lung (using an atomizer/coil above 1-ohm). This is where you suck the vaper in your mouth then into your lungs. The second is direct lung inhales (with atomizers below 1-ohm, known as sub-ohm vaping). This is where you take the vape directly to your lungs. All Cig-a-likes and pod ecigs mainly support mouth to lung vaping where vape pens and box mods offer both styles.

Note: There are also Squonk mods which are box mods with a rubber bottle contained within the mod. The bottle feeds a specially designed RDA (rebuildable dripping atomizer) tank. The other type of e-cigarette available is the mechanical mod. This is an unregulated and basic battery-to-coil setup with no safety features. These types of e-cigs are strictly for more advanced users.

20 Comments

Thanks for the detailed review on the best e cigs, definitely helped me out. Just stopped by to say I have tried the Mig Vapor Clear Fusion kit and it worked out awesome for me! Now moving on to vape pens to see how that goes. Keep up the great work.

Your welcome Jack and we’re pleased to hear that our site has helped you in picking the right e-cigarette. Let us know how you get on with your choice of vape pen or let us know if you need any further help.

Big shout out to SmokeTastic, was struggling to find the right e-cigarette to suit me, but your site is the one I used to help me understand all the different types available and the one that would most likely suit me best. Thanks.

Wow, that’s a lot to read! Great job in creating a content area so I can just jump to the area I’m interested in. Didn’t realise there was so much to learn about e-cigs, well done for making it simple to understand. Will let you know how I get on.

With so many products now on the market, it is important that you understand the basics before jumping right into a purchase. We have tried to break the electronic cigarette into simple groups and identify which user each group is best for. Let us know if you have any questions.

Just ordered my first e-cigarette starter kit thanks to your recommendations. It’s reassuring to hear from someone who actually knows about vaping, rather than just throwing products in your face. Been smoking for 25 years or more, heard so much about e-cigarettes but never took the plunge cause it all seemed so complicated. Thanks for answering all my questions and replying to my email!

As the market of e-cigarettes grew, new devices and innovations were introduced to the market. The latest phase seems to be with pod vapes, but as I explained above, these may not suit all types of users. We glad you find our analysis useful and remember, if you have any questions, please ask!

Hi Sydney, We are not here to advise on any medical conditions, we also make it clear to our readers to only use vaping as a temporary solution to quit smoking, with the end goal of cutting down and quitting altogether. If you need more information concerning these lung conditions, I suggest you take a look at the CDC site: https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2019/s0821-cdc-fda-states-e-cigarettes.html As you can read from the article, many cases involved the use of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) prior, which we do not recommend or write about. I hope that helps.

Hi there
The use of electronic cigarettes is still up for question, most users are ex-smokers who use nicotine type of e-liquid. This in general terms is ok, however, I would like to point out an article I am working on for NBC news, that the use of THC types of e-liquids is far from safe, especially when buying from unknown sources.

Great review, as always! Decent devices, so what to choose… I think I’d pick Smok Morph. It just seems to be ahead of others because of thought-out ergonomics and that side bar fire button. Only I don’t trust the touchscreen – once it fails, even a small area, then I can’t control the device.

Thank you Smoketastic for providing me with a great resource to write my article. It’s information from experts that’s make our job a lot easier. Good luck on your e-cigarette and vaping journey and keep up the good work!

Had to make a comment and thank you for your detailed review of all the best e cigs on the market. It was not only informative on the best products, but also helped us write up a detailed report on vaping. One thing that I would like to add is that it would be good if you included more e-liquid reviews. I realise that taste is really an individual thing, but once a reader like me trusts an author like you, then we would love to hear your opinion.

Glad you found our site useful. Concerning your question about e-liquids, your right, it is a lot more difficult to review e-liquids than electronic cigarettes due to the taste differences. Regardless, we will be looking to review them in the future. Thanks again for your feedback.

Been looking at vaping for some time now and find that choosing the best e cig is a lot harder than just reading an article. There is not one model that would suit all, you have to think a little deeper about why you want to vape in the first place and what you want to achieve. For example, anyone thinking of starting to vape just because they fancy a go at it is really going to be let down by the whole experience. However, if you’re looking at vaping as an alternative to another form of smoking then it might well suit you. For all new vapers though I would suggest one thing, think about an exit strategy. Nicotine is addictive and ideally, you do not want to get dependant on it or addicted to vaping in itself. Thanks for a great site, look forward to your further reviews and information.

Great content, thanks SmokeTastic! Learning about electronic cigarettes has been a bit of a minefield, but you seem to put it into logical blocks that make it so much easier! Thanks again and keep up the great vaping reviews! Love em!

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